After winning the T20 World cup in Barbados last week, defeating South Africa and bringing to T20 World cup to home 2nd time after 2007 T20 World cup trophy, Rahul David’s coaching came to end with India. During farewell of Rahul Dravid the superstar of cricket told that during his tenancy as head coach, he hated chopping and changing the team too much and always tried to be a foil for skipper Rohit Sharma so that he could devise his own winning plan of action.
” I am someone who actually likes continuity and don’t like to change and chop too many things because I believe that creates a lot of instability and doesn’t create very good environment,” told by Rahul Dravid in a video posted by BCCI on Saturday.
” I feel that I am a part of the team whose responsibility is to create the right professional, safe, secure environment that doesn’t really have a fear of failure as such but is challenging enough to push people. That has always been my endeavour.”
Rahul Dravid had taken in charge over as a coach and ” never envisaged” that he would have to work with half a dozen captains in the period when the players were coming out of the covid-19 pandemic was a tough one for him.as Rahul Dravid was told.
” One of the things that we really had to manage, especially in the earlier part of my coaching tenure here with India. We were at the back end of the covid restrictions.”
“We really had to manage their workloads through all the three different formats. There were a few injuries and it led to me working with something like 5-6 captains in the first 8-10 months of me being here.”
“It was definitely something that I had not envisaged, or not something that I thought about, but it just sort of organically happened.”
Under Rahul Dravid’s training, India beat England in the five-match Test series at home and also India reached the World cup final 2023.
While during covid time covid put a lot of restrictions on players and they lived out of a ‘bubble case’ at all times, and the covid also had its gain as a lot of youngsters got a chance to be a part of the India team environment.
” The other things that happened, which was very nice to see is because we played so much of cricket after covid duration and we had to cram in a lots of series, it meant that we had to almost, at times, have two teams playing at the same time in different parts of the world.”
” Over the last 2-1/2 years, especially in the white-ball cricket and lately towards the back end ( of my career) even in red-ball cricket, we were able to give a lot of youngsters a lot of opportunities, bring a lot of people into the side.”
” Some of them developed and stayed on in the side a little bit longer, but some of them, they were there because at that point of time may be some of the seniors were resting.”
” I have really enjoyed working with Rohit, someone I knew as a young boy. Just to see him grow as a person along with as a leader in Indian cricket, what someone like him has been able to contribute to the team over the last 10-12 years, both as a player and now as a leader, has been a real tribute to him and the effort that he is put in.”
” I have really enjoyed getting to him know as a person as well and enjoyed seeing his commitment and his care for the team; to just try and get the environment right where everyone feels safe and secure and the effort that he’s put in.”
Rahul Dravid was telling that he always believed in the process because of which, at times, he was misunderstood as not being result-oriented.
“For me that is (result), of course it’s important. I keep saying and people think, ‘oh, I think result are not important’. Of course, results are are important.”